Zinc deficiency is not a cause for abortion, congenital abnormality and small-for-gestational age infant in Chinese women.

Zinc concentration in serum and hair was measured in a cross-sectional study of 437 Chinese women of whom 310 were normal controls studied at various stages of pregnancy and up to 12 months after delivery. The rest had spontaneous abortions, fetuses with a birthweight below the 10th centile for gestation or congenital abnormalities. Zinc concentration fell throughout normal pregnancy, the fall being greater in serum than in hair. There was no correlation between serum and hair levels. The infant birthweight had a positive correlation with serum level but a negative correlation with hair level. Abortion, low birthweight and congenital abnormality were not associated with low concentrations of zinc in plasma or hair.